Social Conservative Leaders back Zawistowski for ORP Chairman

Kent – Tom Zawistowski, Candidate for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, announced today that he had received the backing of six key social conservatives leaders around the state. The recommendations came in two separate letters that were sent to the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee and all 88 County Chairmen. In the letters the leaders spell out their reasons for backing Zawistowski for ORP Chairman. Zawistowski, in accepting the recommendations, said “Many social conservatives want a leader who will stand up for traditional values and take seriously the principals spelled out in our national Republican Party Platform. I am thankful for the recommendation of these six key leaders from around the state who trust me to do that. They represent a constituency that is critical to the success of the Ohio Republican Party. I have been making the case to the State Central Committee members that I am uniquely qualified to unify all the coalition partners that make up the Republican Party base. These letters of support confirm that I have the full faith and confidence of these key social conservative leaders.”

Jeannine Jones, Member of the Ohio Right to Life Political Action Committee

Lori Viars, Vice President of the Warren County Right to life

In their letter they call the April 26th State Central Committee vote for Chairman to be “judgement day” during which the committee will choose if the Ohio Republican Party will “recognize and embrace Ohio’s conservative movement by electing Tom Zawistowski as the only currently viable choice for chairman.” They continued by saying “Tom has the ability to embrace and unify the grass roots movement, the moderate Republicans and the social conservatives.” They conclude with a strong statement saying “Further, we are confident that Tom’s proven leadership over the past several years will unify social and fiscal conservatives who are motivated by issues and not by party affiliation. This unification around the issues will halt the push by many grass roots Christian and social conservatives to form a third party.”

The second letter is from Chris Long, President of the Ohio Christian Alliance (link to PDF). In his letter he says “As to those Central Committee Members considering a choice for the future of the Ohio Republican Party, I encourage them to take a good look at the accomplishments of Tom Zawistowski as a worthy candidate to lead the Ohio Republican Party into the future.”